By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
A SECRET tape recording of a meeting between a whistleblower and a Bus Éireann official has cast serious doubt on the company’s internal inquiry into allegations of a ‘kickbacks for school contracts’ racket.
The claims that staff at the semi-state company received payments, favours, holidays and gifts in return for contracts to take disabled children to school emerged in an affidavit sent to the Department of Education by the whistleblower last year. The department pays €166m a year to Bus Éireann to run the scheme.
The company launched an internal investigation but the never-published inquiry concluded there was ‘no basis’ either for any form of disciplinary action or for referring the matter to gardaÃ.
In February, Bus Éireann CEO Martin Nolan wrote to tell the Public Accounts Committee of the conclusions – but the secret tape of the whistleblower’s meeting with a Bus Éireann official appears to stand at odds with many of the conclusions Mr Nolan outlined.
Comparison by the MoS of the secret tape and Mr Nolan’s letter shows: The letter states the whistleblower had withdrawn his allegations and was not willing to offer further evidence. In the interview, he stood over ‘98% of the stated claims’ and said there was much more not included The letter said he accepted that ‘the manner in which he lost his contract… was legitimate and fair’. In the interview, he repeatedly states the opposite The letter claimed he agreed that other contractors did not support his allegations.
On the recording, he is heard stating that they all agreed – but they felt ‘intimidated’ and fearful of reprisals The secret tape will prompt parallels with the recording made by Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe of a meeting he held with former Confidential Recipient Oliver Connolly, which led to Mr Connolly’s sacking earlier this year.
Last night, in response to secret recording, PAC chairman John McGuinness said he intended to call Bus Éireann back before the committee.
‘We take that very seriously as a committee,’ he said. ‘I’m not happy with the response of Bus Éireann in that letter and we will be addressing this.’ The MoS can also reveal that two of the whistleblowers who made the claims – both taxi drivers who lost their school-run contracts – have been provided lawyers by Transparency International Ireland and have spoken to the Garda fraud squad about a possible criminal complaint.
They allege that managers at Bus Eireann received kickbacks such as free holidays, gifts and free transport in return for guaranteeing contracts.
The School Transport Scheme pays out €166m in contracts to taxi and bus operators to run school buses and to transport disabled children to schools.
A draft affidavit outlining the claims was sent to the Government last September and in November an internal inquiry was launched. At the time, Junior Education Minister Ciarán Cannon came under fire for allowing Bus Éireann to investigate the matter itself, instead of forwarding it to gardaÃ.
The document alleged that ‘brown envelopes containing cash’ and ‘airline tickets’ were among the gifts provided to one employee. One contractor said he felt trapped into giving the alleged inducements for fear he would lose his contracts.
The alleged payments and gifts are strictly forbidden by Bus Éireann’s code of conduct.
Mr Nolan was not present for the interview with the whistleblower, but his letter to the PAC said Bus Éireann had decided not to discipline any employees or forward a file to gardaà because the whistleblower had ‘withdrawn’ certain claims, had stated that he had not been victimised for refusing to pay bribes and been unable or unwilling to provide more evidence.
He wrote: ‘The person who made the allegations… informed the investigation team that he never made a number of the statements contained in the document and which were attributed to him. ‘He further stated that he had never made any improper payments and was never asked to contribute to any collections or funds as described. He went on to state that he did not know of anyone who had been asked to make any such payments.
‘Given that the individual… was unwilling or unable to offer any evidence or material to support the allegations… it is not possible for the matter to be progressed further within Bus Éireann,’ he wrote.
But the statements made by the whistleblower during the recorded interview are in stark contrast. He repeatedly stood by the allegations of payments he felt obliged to make in order to keep his contracts.
‘Like I haven’t exaggerated. I would say 98% of it is true and there’s even more that could be alleged,’ he told the investigator.
The whistleblower clarified that just two phrases in the seven-page affidavit had not been accurately attributed to him.
He goes into detail about instances where he felt obliged to pay for gifts for one Bus Éireann official – and how, rather than pay cash, he was used by officials as a free taxi service.
Mr Nolan also wrote that that the whistleblower ‘stated that the manner in which he lost his schools contract was legitimate and fair’ but the tape contains no such concession by the whistleblower. Asked about the apparent discrepancies this week, Bus Éireann repeated that there was no evidence to back up the allegations. ‘No such evidence has been presented to Bus Éireann at any stage and none has been brought to our attention by the Garda authorities.
‘We will not be commenting any further,’ said a spokeswoman.
Postscript – The above article and several others we published on Bus Eireann (see https://www.newsscoops.org/?p=1548 and https://www.newsscoops.org/?p=1563) resulted in significant news coverage some of which can be found at the links below.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0414/608781-corruption-claims-at-bus-eireann/
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/04/14/eireann-go-brach/
http://gometro.ie/2014/04/bus-eireann-whistleblower-urged-to-tell-gardai-of-bribery/
http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2014/irish-bus-company-refutes-bribery-claims
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bus-eireann-hits-back-over-claims-of-bribery-30203189.html
http://www.todayfm.com/mobile/index.php?id=6872
http://www.thejournal.ie/bus-eireann-accusations-kickback-scandal-bribery-1425655-Apr2014/
http://tippfm.com/news/bus_eireann_dismiss_bribery_claims
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/bus-eireann-rubbish-bribery-allegations-628381.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0507/615869-bus-eireann-documents-to-be-passed-onto-gardai/
